A “female” gold-medallist athlete is in danger of being stripped of her medals after tests revealed she is a hermaphrodite.

The 18-year-old South African runner, Caster Semenya, became a victim of her own success when a spectacular 800m win in the recent World Athletics Championships caused race authorities to order tests on her.

She is said to have biological characteristics of both genders, with female genitalia but no ovaries and internal testes.

However, legally she is quite female, and still passes hormonal tests as a female.

An official with the body ordering the tests explained the complexity of the situation:

“There certainly is evidence now that Semenya is a hermaphrodite.

But the trouble is the IAAF now have the whole ANC and the whole of South Africa on their backs.

Everything is going to have to be done absolutely by the book, no question of a challenge to our findings.

There’s all sorts of scans you do. This is why it’s complicated.

In the past you used to do a gynaecological exam, blood test, chromosome test, whatever.

That’s why the findings were challenged, because it’s not quite so simple.

So what they do now is they do everything, and then they can say look, not only has she got this, she’s got that and the other.

The problem for us is to avoid it being an issue now which is very personal: of the organs being a hermaphrodite, of not being a ‘real’ woman.”

Proud South Africans decry the doubts as “racist and sexist.”

Her family is particularly outraged:

“It is God who made her look that way but she is a girl.

I believe Caster is normal, inside and out.

What does it matter whether she can have babies or not? Many people cannot have children, why else do parents adopt? Are those women not women also?

We are a normal family who looked at a child when she was born, saw that she was a girl and raised her as any other family would do. Are we now being told that we are wrong?

We are very humiliated by what has been said and do not understand how it can be true.

This is a woman who was raised a female. She will always be female, no matter what people say.”

She’s been competing since she was a child, and people have been whining and claiming she must be a man since then also. All along.

Only now did things reach a level of importance that made them go for more exact tests though, but she withstood all manner of humiliating things as a child in school competitions already. It’s not “some racist plot” like jackasses think.

i feel bad for her. it’s likely she was aware of her elevated levels of testosterone (which would explain why she didn’t get periods) but not the fact that she was actually missing her female reproductive organs and had male ones. and now, to have the fact revealed not only to her herself, but to the entire world? poor woman! i think she should keep the medals, but she probably won’t be able to compete anymore. i can only hope she can come through this situation with confidence, and perhaps have surgery to correct her gender ambiguity, as it can cause problems later on. wow, i just feel really terrible about this whole thing…

The report on her body was ‘she’ does not have ovaries or a uterus only the testies inside. So what ‘she’ does not have is the extension device males have but ‘she’ has all the rest of the items located hidden inside. Which must be nice to not be ‘racked’ when kicked between the legs. ‘She’ has semen.

Looks like a dude to me and he does run like one.
Fuck him if we let him keep the medal the next games are going to be full of technically female guys.
Female events are supposed to be easy and for girls, this is unfair.

Got a source for your first sentence, Artefact? Last I heard they had no plans to take away the medal since she hadn’t deliberately cheated. They were considering a few options including giving another gold to second place, but I don’t recall hearing about any plans to strip her of her gold.

“‘These tests do not suggest any suspicion of deliberate misconduct but seek to assess the possibility of a potential medical condition which would give Semenya an unfair advantage over her competitors. There is no automatic disqualification of results in a case like this.’

Earlier the IAAF said it was likely that Semenya would keep her medal because the case was not related to a drug matter.”

“And sources close to the International Association of Athletics Federations — who ordered extensive tests on the teen after her amazing 800m win at the World Athletics Championships last month — say the results mean she could still be stripped of her medal.”

and I could easily say that the spokesman was stating what people wanted to be heard.. to stop with all the rumors and blah blah that is harassing Caster.. and their own organisation.. so they could do those tests in peace.. and get sufficient evidence

its all speculation until they actually announce what will happen to her..

‘Earlier the IAAF said it was likely that Semenya would keep her medal’

could say the same thing with your source.. >_>..

and I could easily say that the spokesman was stating what people wanted to be heard.. to stop with all the rumors and blah blah that is harassing Caster.. and their own organisation.. so they could do those tests in peace..

its all speculation until they actually announce what will happen to her..

p.s. ‘you can get through life without manners.. but its a lot easier with them’..

“May find”. Given that they hadn’t even received any comment from the IAAF yet they were basically talking out of their arses. The direct quote from a spokesman that I posted above is obviously going to overrule unfounded speculation, so try actually reading what you’re quoting next time.

I could get you some more sources.. but I can’t be bothered.. but The Times is a pretty reliable source..

Something similar to this has happened before as well.. so.. I don’t find it that shocking if she were stripped of her medal..

‘In 2006 an Indian 800 metres runner, Santhi Soundarajan, was stripped of her silver medal at the Asian Games after “failing” a sex test. She was later found to have AIS and was reported to have made a suicide attempt’

Okay you’ve set me straight, I guess unattributed hearsay from a Japanese news article (unless you were referring to another link I didn’t see) is way more reliable than a direct quote from an IAAF spokesman.

Why hermaphrodite? A hermaphrodite is characterized by having both sex reproduction mechanisms, but (s)he does not seem to have either of them working. Wouldn’t the term androgyne (having none of both) would be more appropriate? Just asking..

Did you read? She/he has a vagina and testes, they don’t have to WORK because hermaphrodites are typically sterile and don’t have working reproductive organs. She/he IS a hermaphrodite. They also said she/he would be able to pass female hormone tests, which means hormonally she/he is seen as female.

The reason why is simple: Men naturally perform better at rigorous physical tasks (including sports like running) than women do. Men naturally have a greater amount of testosterone than women, allowing men’s bodies to build more efficient lean muscle and thus improving their performance. There’s a reason why athletes often use steroids, and why this practice is banned in all major sporting events.

Testosterone is primarily produced by the testes (thus the name of the hormone). Caster has ’em, they just don’t hang out. It’s a man.

the main sexist mofo here is nature. why do males and females have to compete independently from each other? i’d rather see men an women play football on the same field, run side-by-side on the same track and punch each other’s faces in the same boxing ring.

Technically he’s a man. Having testes means you are male. Having a vagina only means something went wrong and his body wasn’t able receive the testosterone correctly. I am positive that that person is XY (male).

there was more support for the man who had a gender change than this person who was born with both…you fucktards are hypocrats!

Ill say what i always say…its about genetics…a y chromosome is needed to produce a penis, females dont have the genetics to produce a penis thus its a males…sorry, its not fair sometimes but you cant change your genetic or your true gender